


A Dance With White Rabbits

by smarmsi



Series: Old EXO Drabbles From Tumblr [2]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Kim Jongin | Kai-centric, Only one rabbit was harmed in the making of this story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2017-06-27
Packaged: 2018-11-19 22:35:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11323104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smarmsi/pseuds/smarmsi
Summary: Jongin meets his dreams. Then he meets something that isn't a dream at all.





	A Dance With White Rabbits

Jongin’s Dreamscape is a meadow, filled with wildflowers.

A breeze rustles the tall grass, whispering. He waits.

Soon he can feel them coming, some hurrying, some meandering. Jongin gazes up at the ever-shifting sky, infinitely patient. His Dreams will come.

Soft paws pad gently, and a wet nose bumps against his hand. He looks down at the white rabbit peering up at him and smiles, happiness bursting in his heart. It hops into his lap gleefully, the first to arrive. The pale fur is velvet underneath his fingertips, its warm body a comfortable weight in his arms. This particular Dream is one of flying, a favorite of his. He feels the wind through his hair and see a flash of the world spread before him as his fingers thread through the Dream’s fur. It snuffles and settles down, content.

Other Dreams arrive and he strokes them as well, but his flying Dream stays on its throne in his lap. He’s surrounded by white rabbits, snug and cozy in their warmth. The chains in his mind ease and his chest unclenches as he breathes in the familiar musk of his Dreams. A haze of soft images and sounds and emotions wash over him, too many to really keep track of, but his limbs tingle and he floats in the stream of semi-consciousness.

Jongin won’t remember them when he wakes up, but it doesn’t make him sad. Dreams aren’t meant to be remembered - White rabbits spook easily, frightened by reality.

Time is senseless in this place, seconds bleeding into hours and hours into seconds. Jongin has no concept of how long he’s spent in the Dream-trance when something yanks him out harshly, leaving him disoriented. Something hits him as slightly off about his Dreamscape, just enough to make him uncomfortable, a foreign emotion here. The white rabbits are tense, ears perked and eyes wide. He’s never seen them this way. The eerie feeling settles into his bones, weighing heavy.

It’s with a jolt that he realizes the breeze has stopped blowing, and everything is unnaturally still. The Dream in his lap gives a full-body shudder, and the others crowd closer to him.

Something is very, very wrong.

He can feel it as soon as it steps into his meadow from the shadows of the forest surrounding. Pain shoots through his skull and he screams, startling the Dreams. Every step it takes only brings the pain back, a throbbing in his head that makes him think he’ll explode. The white rabbits are panicking, running circles around him - but the Dream in his lap is oddly still, its ears quivering. It is staring across the meadow right where he knows the pain stems from, and Jongin follows its gaze to see - black. Black, a sharp contrast to the warm colors of his Dreamscape, and monstrously huge. Threat, he thinks through the fog in his brain. Predator.

He can’t get up, he can’t even move, each throb of pain only increasing as it plods toward him. Most of the Dreams have run - only a loyal few remain, pressing close to him. They’re shaking.

He curls in on himself, clutching his head, trying to stop the pain. Nothing helps. Fear courses through him, making him shiver.

It is both an eternity and an instant later when he realizes the pain has stopped. He looks up to see his Dream crouched in front of him, an uncharacteristic snarl ripping from its throat. The beast has stopped advancing, but it is close enough to see clearly.

Its body shows the form of a horse, but grotesque lumps scatter its flank, and viscous, black fluid shines on its coat, flowing down and soaking into the earth. It glares at the Dream with demon-red eyes, so different from the Dream’s own golden ones.

The two are absolutely still for what feels like an eternity until the Dream’s flank twitches, the only warning given before it leaps at the beast. It rears back, startled, but the Dream has attacked the monster’s throat, ripping into the oily black fur. The monster screams in pain and throws its head back, thrashing wildly. It knocks the Dream away before collapsing on its side, red mixing with black in the dirt. Neither move. Jongin’s heart thumps rapidly.

The monster lets out a breath just as the Dream takes one in. The black sludge on the beast seems to slip away, an endless stream - as if the creature is made of it - leaving behind bleached white bones.

The bones are a rabbit’s.

The sludge spreads - stretches - toward the fallen Dream, like a grasping hand. Jongin can’t tear his eyes away from the scene, terror freezing his muscles. He knows what will happen an instant before it does.

The ooze reaches the white rabbit, sliding over its back paws, and the Dream screams like it’s burning, raw and instinctive. But it can’t get up, too injured to run, and the liquid begins to smother it, soak into its pristine fur. The Dream shrieks, a pained, fearful, unforgettable sound. Finally the blackness reaches up to its mouth and the scream cuts off abruptly.

Jongin is frozen.

The sludge continues to flow onto the Dream, absorbing it - or perhaps the Dream is absorbing the sludge. Soon all he can see is a black mass of sticky liquid, and a new note of terror rings in his heart.

Jongin watches in awestruck horror as the black mass swells, growing larger every second. Lumps form, pushing out. A shriek, unlike before - frustrated, not afraid - cuts through the air. The blackness twists violently, as if the Dream is struggling again, trying to free itself. It grows even more, becoming giant, and Jongin knows enough to realize his Dream is not coming back to him. Not like this.

The viscous liquid shudders and ripples, slowly taking shape - but not the shape of a rabbit, no - this is the shape of a horse. The shift is smooth, almost impossible to see, but soon the oily mass is no longer formless. Before him stands another gigantic beast, black still dripping from its hide. Powerful legs hold it steady on heavy, sharp hooves. The sky seems frozen, the air in his Dreamscape cold. All his Dreams have scattered.

His lungs seize and Jongin gasps, realizing he had been holding his breath. The sound breaks the beast’s trance, and its eyes snap open, burning a brilliant red and focused on him. A deep, unnatural growl rumbles through its chest, and suddenly he knows what this creature is.

This is a Night Mare.

The Mare charges with a thunderous roar, hooves crashing against the ground and shooting sparks of pain through his head. He tries to get up, but he can’t, his muscles won’t work, and the Mare lunges, teeth snapping. But instead of connecting, the Mare flies through him, intangible, like a ghost. The trailing wind is freezing cold and his stomach swoops. He’s falling, endlessly, images of smoke and pain filtering past his vision.

Jongin snaps awake, sweating and panting. His room is dark. His head still pounds. And he remembers - because his Dreams may be easily forgotten, but his Night Mares follow him into reality.

**Author's Note:**

> cross-posted to tumblr here: http://smarmsi.tumblr.com/post/105229597191/a-dance-with-white-rabbits


End file.
